Serious question, I have no idea. Is there an established tradition, sequence of events, rule?
I just asked some kids, and they said they’d come later and secretly do some trick on me, but they didn’t seem too sure about it either.
This in Europe btw.
Trick or treat is actually a social contract you give treats so kids don’t eggs your house
But is it ever happening this way?
Do people really answer “trick” when asked?
Or rather anything from “no treat, sorry” to “fuck off you lousy brats”?
How does the ritual continue then? What do the kids answer?
And then, do they vandalize that person’s property, usually, or are there other types of tricks?
Do they do it immediately, or do they circle back later, secretly?
PS: Egging or TPing would require the kids to come prepared for that outcome. That’s another thing I’m wondering about. Do kids really do that these days, if so where.
It used to! Kids would steal wood, break down fences, take outdoor furniture, and use it to build a big bonfire in the center of their towns. They would egg houses and run wild.
Modern trick-or-treating and Halloween parties were invented to counter this destructive behavior, actually. Tasting History did a pretty cool episode on it.
That’s the impression I’m getting overall. From the presumably USian comments - for those that got Halloween via the US, it probably never was.
The video tells an amazing story (starts about 6min in, ends at about 16min in). Apparently Halloween as it was in the 19th century was a mix of traditions from different cultures, partly even the result of culture clash. And the introduction of candy in the early 20th century was aimed at placating the little rowdies, invented by ladies that remind me of the temperance movement.
In light of that we should celebrate kids that still cling to the old ways!
Seriously though, most cultures have traditions of at least one day per year where mischief is allowed, and I like it.
Bonus, from the video:
🔖
You just come back after candy getting hours. Why waste treat time tricking? That’s what sugar rushes are for
My family never really did Halloween.
I mean I kinda went trick-or-treating for the first 2 Halloweens in NYC, but then I just felt like it was too childish. But I was 10, idk who I’m calling childish, I was literally still a child, maybe its the social anxiety.
We never gave out candy (I mean… we were literally broke ourselves), and idk what this “you’ll get egged” come from, that never happened.
Halloween is huge in the suburbs, not so much in the city. I lived in the city for almost 20 years and my doorbell never rang once on Halloween. People don’t even really decorate.
The threat of a trick is just for fun, though. If someone answered the door, they are giving you candy. If they don’t, oh well! To the next house! Pranks like throwing toilet paper or egging (way less common) was for friends, enemies, and random houses. And that was teenagers doing it, not trick or treaters.
I’m back in the suburbs this year and am really looking forward to it starting in 2 hours. I have a ton of candy and homemade dog treats! I’m gonna ask them what their trick would be…maybe I’ll come back and share some of the funny ones.
Brooklyn, NY did Halloween.
I remember in like 2010 or 2011 going up and down the entire 86th street for like 3-7 block. Sooo many people, some stores ran out, or maybe they lied and didn’t participate and just had a big “NO CANDY” sign on the door.
Ah, memories. I was so nervous at the time, but in hindsight, that was a good memory. Such innocent me. I got so nervoid when I saw classmate lol, like the idea of seeing classmated outside of school was so terrifying to me. Like… embarassment was my top fear at the time, now… the fears are so much more political.
This is anecdotal but I’m born and raised in nyc and if I got raisins the house got eggs and apt doors got eggs too
I egged 1 house out of retaliation back in the day. My friends and I were like 14- 15at the time, and were taking out our siblings, then going tp 2 parties, an earlier chaperoned house party, then a bonfire in the woods, after we dropped them back off.
One house were complete dicks to the younger kids, made my friend’s little sister cry making fun of her costume. So we all went home as planned, but grabbed our eggs, and stashed them nearby the first party, along with out supplies for the second party. When we left the chaperoned party at like 11, we swung back by the offending house on our bikes, pelted their house with ~3 dozen eggs, aiming for the wood shingles and up high, knowing it would be a bitch to clean, then rode off to our bonfire party splitting up for the first half of the ride in case they called the cops.
I lived in brooklyn and never got egged or anything. Its was a multi-family unit that we rented. If we did get egged, then we didn’t hear about it because that’s the landlord’s problem. (There are 2 sets of doors, they have to get in the outer door before they could get into the hallway area.)
Would be a reeel shame…